


He Should Have Said No

by SuchaPrettyPoison



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cliche, Enemies to Piggyback Companions, F/M, Fluff, drunk, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-28 02:23:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20056477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchaPrettyPoison/pseuds/SuchaPrettyPoison
Summary: This night couldn’t get any weirder.Ben gets a call to pick up a drunk Rey from a bar - he didn't even know that she had his number.But here he was.Acting as D.D. for a girl who slammed a door in his face, and now she wants tacos and a piggyback ride.He should say no.





	He Should Have Said No

**Author's Note:**

> Tacos.
> 
> Twitter: [SuchaPrettyPSN](https://twitter.com/suchaprettypsn/)  
  
Tumblr: [Tumblr](http://www.suchaprettypoison.tumblr.com/)  


#

This night couldn’t get any weirder.

He was at a dive bar, which should be closed due to health and safety violations.

He had shown up at the same time as Poe – who gave him the customary ‘fuck off, everyone thinks you’re the worst’ look.

He was in this situation because the bartender had called him from Rey’s phone - she had his number saved in her phone.  
She had given his name as the one to call to come pick her up.  
And he, like a sap, came racing over because she needed him.  
He should have said no.  
But here he was.  
Pathetic.

“Finn. Rose. Rey. It’s time to come home.” Poe was speaking to them as though they were toddlers, though none of the trio seemed to mind that fact. In fact, they responded in a way that would make toddlers around the world proud – with a chorus of disapprovals.  
The bar staff paid them no heed as they went about cleaning up and closing-up for the night. Looked like this wasn’t their first ‘rodeo’ as his father could say.

“Rey?” Ben asked stepping firmly on the outskirts of the situation just in case he wasn’t needed and he could bolt and pretend none of this ever happened.

“Mr. Darcy. You came.” Her accent was thick (he’d only heard it this thick those times when she had been yelling) and her voice almost sounded wistful, as she attempted a curtsy from her stool only to erupt in a fit of un-Rey-like giggles. Rose was poking her and failing miserably at whispering in her ear (Ben heard clear as day ‘He came for you. That is so beautiful.’)– Finn was attempting a glare, it was mediocre at best.

“If we don’t leave now, we can’t get tacos.” Poe had moved to bargaining, which lit up the eyes of all three of the heavily inebriated adults. But only for a moment, Rey turned glassy hazel eyes on him and gave him a slow blink as if she was fighting to keep her eyes open.

“Tacos.” She said with soft enthusiasm, looking pleadingly up at him from her stool, and he fought to keep his stoic expression. She was too cute.

He wasn’t certain why he was the one who they called for Rey. Honestly, he was a bit surprised she even had his number, but Poe looked like he was having his hands full with Rose and Finn who were both super wobbly on their feet. Poe had place himself in-between the two and was supporting both their weight, it was impressive - Ben noted grudgingly. Then Rey pitched forward as she attempted to step up from the stool, and Ben was there is an instant.

Her lithe athletic frame was in his arms, the smell of citrus and vanilla, and she was looking up at him with parted lips and big eyes while her hands roamed along his shoulders (her fingers brushing along the skin of his neck).  
She was trying to kill him.  
She was soft and warm in his arms – he needed to place her away.

“Ben. You smell nice.” His name was a sigh on her lips, and she rested her head against him, nearly burrowing into him and he was about to come out of his skin.  
She was just a silly girl.  
She shouldn’t have this kind of hold on him.

“Tacos in bed.” She murmured against his chest. His hands flexed with the urge to grab her.

The thought of her in bed. Hair undone. Dark eyes. Candle light dancing across her warm skin.

“Solo. Can you get her to my car? They all live in the same building.” Poe spoke from the door, looking unfazed by the awkwardness of the situation.

“Ben. You promised tacos in bed.” Rey said, still snuggled against his chest. He had promised no such thing, but he could bring himself to tell her that.

He could wash his hands of this entire situation. Put her in Poe’s car, and that would be the end.

He should had just put her in Poe’s car. Instead he said, “We’ll follow in my car.”

-0-

Rey fell asleep almost as soon as he turned the car on, and the journey to her place was silent except for the sounds of her light breathing and little mumbles in her sleep. Even pulling into a spot in front of her building and turning off the car didn’t wake her, and he didn’t have it in him when she looked so peaceful.  
She had been so angry the last time the had seen each other. Slammed a door in his face.  
He had deserved it, but it was nice to see her so relaxed. When awake, she was energy with constant hidden tension – in a rare moment, he had heard her joke that she could go for a massage but doubted she could be still long enough. She was always in motion. Always doing something. It was incredible to see.

Ben rounded to the passenger side of his car, opened the door, and bent over to undo her seatbelt in quick efficient movements. That was until he heard his name as a sigh come from her and turned to look at her only to be met with a bright smile and her fingers skimming along his neck and jaw before burring themselves in his hair. He had never been this close to her face; he could make out the faint scent of gin when she had said his name, could make out every freckle, every strand of color that made up her stunning hazel eyes.  
He gave her a rare smile, and those magic fingers were there tracing his lips.  
She was trying to kill him.

“You are so pretty. Can we go to bed now?” Rey asked in a husky voice as her eyes began to close.

“I need to get you up to your apartment first sweetheart.” Ben couldn’t bite back the endearment in time. Embarrassment coursed through him, making his skin feel too tight – he had no right to call her that, they would barely even be considered friends. Yet, here he was bent at an awkward angle, with one of her hands tangled in his hair. He had come running at the thought that she had needed him.

“Kay.” She said with her eyes closed, looking like she was about to fall back to sleep.

“Do you want to walk for me?”

“No.” Well that was a firmer answer than Ben was expecting.

“Okay sweetheart,” there he went with that damn endearment again, “Then how do you want to get to your bed?”

“Piggyback ride.”

Now that he NEEDED to say no to. He had barely managed to hold it together earlier when she was leaning against him. If he had her thighs in his hands, her warm breath against his neck and her front press along his back – he would lose his mind.  
This woman had been a constant in his mind and imagination since they had met, but she hated him. She was easier to deal with when she hated him.   
This soft Rey, he didn’t know how react to – didn’t want to have her hate him any more than she already did when she got her wits about her again. But she couldn’t wake up in his car – she wouldn’t be happy about that. He could wait for Poe, but a quick look in his direction showed that the man already had his hands full with Rose and Finn.  
Ben could do this.  
He could help.  
He would carry her to her apartment, make sure she got in okay, and maybe put out a glass of water and Advil while he was at it.

-0-

Rey had her head resting on his shoulder. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders, fingers playing along his chest, which were becoming more and more lax. As he made his way to the steps of her building, where Poe was waiting with a tight expression.  
Yeah, they would make an odd sight – Ben carrying anyone went against everyone’s perception of him. It was like when he took Wookie for walks or to the dog park; the overly large shaggy dog had three legs and was the most loveable creature is existence, which was at odds with his taciturn owner.

“Rey is in 302. Did she give you her key?” Poe asked. The man was assessing him. 

Ben flashed the man Rey’s keys as an answer.

Poe gave him a curt nod, “I’ll be up in a minute. The elevator is out of order, you might want to wake her.”

He was warning Ben, but if he thought that he would let any harm come to Rey, Poe wouldn’t have let him drive Rey here. It was a tentative trust. Shaky at best.  
Ben might be an asshole, but he wouldn’t be an asshole to Rey in this moment. He just wanted her safe, so that he could sleep soundly.

“No need. I can handle three flights of stairs.”

Poe gave him a curt nod, his eyes clearly indicating that if Ben did anything to hurt the girl that he would kill him, hide the body, and no one would be the wiser.

“You promised tacos Poe-kins.” Finn broke in, stealing Poe’s attention. Ben that took it as his cue to leave.

Rey’s warmth and scent was heady, and Ben had taken to going over every detail of his latest case, repeatedly. He would not think of Rey, not admire every bit of her pressed against him, not when she was drunk and asleep. He was a better man than that. He wished she lived on a higher floor so that it would allow his muscles to properly burn, but he made it to her floor without much effort.  
With his normal efficiency he managed to open her door, but he lingered in the doorway – it felt like an invasion to enter her space without a direct invitation.

“I’m gonna chunder.”

Rey was awake and pushing off his back, he bent his knees and released her thighs as a gagging sound in the back of her throat cleared up any possible confusion what the word ‘chunder’ might mean. On wobbly legs, Rey went racing to what Ben assumed was the bathroom, and he quickly followed worried – the waxy look of her skin and the sweat that broke out across her brow was clear indication that the drink had finally turned on her.

She was in her tiny bathroom, her slim frame heaving, and he stood uncomfortably in the doorway (again) as retching noises filled the space.  
With stilted movements, he turned on the light, coming to her side in the cramped space to place his hand lightly on her back and rub light circles in what he hoped was a soothing manner.  
He should get her water, or ginger-ale, or crackers, or all of the above.

“Don’t remember this.” Rey said in a gasp to the toilet, “I am cute. Remember that. And a badass.” And then the retching started anew. He stayed by her side till they subsided, and she was resting her cheek against her arm, her breathing as if she had just ran a marathon, the sound of a knock at her front door had her groaning.

“That will be Dameron.”

He left her to clean herself up and brush her teeth, confident now that she wasn’t going to vomit up a vital organ. Ben wouldn’t have thought that she would be one to drink heavily to excess, but he wasn’t in a position to judge – there had been nights where he had turned to vices because he needed to forget, and other nights that had just gotten away from him; those had been one off occurrences and Ben would stake his inheritance that it was the same for Rey.

She had looked so frail, so small, sickly almost in the poor lighting of the bathroom. 

“Do you know if she has crackers? Advil?” Ben asked Poe as a form of greeting, taking the time now to turn on lights before heading to the kitchen.

“It’s fine Solo, I can handle it from here.”

Ben stilled.   
Poe was right.   
Poe was actually her friend.   
Poe had the right to be in her space – to take care of her. Ben was just the draft horse who had gotten her home. He didn’t belong in her world.

Taking a business card from his wallet he gave it to Poe, “If you need to get a hold of me. Tell Rey…”

Tell Rey what?  
He left the sentence unfinished, gave a jerk of his chin, and left.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had K/Cdramas going in the background while I've been working on other writing (a novel, I'm attempting a novel, crazy I know) and they all seem to have something in common - piggyback rides! So, obviously, we needed to get Rey on to Ben's back! Well I did. And I needed it to be a quick story because I was hyperventilating about entering a first novel competition (why am I even doing this, I write for fun, half the stuff never sees the light of day), and I needed my brain to be off of that train of thought. So, here we are and I wrote the thing above.
> 
> Also, what is the best drunk food?  
Fries tend to be the easiest to get. But GF Pizza and Mac n' Cheese are at the top of my list - with hot sauce, like drenched in hot sauce.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed it.  
If you want some more of my Reylo content - allow me to link to you the following:  
[I Wasn't Expecting You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13334733/chapters/30525342/)  
[The Neighborly Thing To Do](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13434042/)  
[I Need You to Kiss Me](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13508565/)  
[May I Have Your Attention Please](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13307226/)  
[I Brought Soup](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13553676/)  
If you feel like trying something different - allowing me to plug [She Refused to be a Swooner](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3984541/)  
which I am currently reworking into a novel just for funsies- but it's super fun, and I think you might enjoy it if you give it a chance.
> 
> side bar: It's taken well over an half an hour to write this because my cat keeps bringing me her toy to throw down the stair for her, which requires me getting up, getting in view of the stairs and throwing it just so, so she can bat it in the air then through the railing to run after it (but only if I go back to my original spot, if I don't she expects me pick it up and throw it to her to catch), then bring it back to me.


End file.
